Market Square Arena

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Lore & Background

Market Square Arena was best known as the home of the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association from 1974 to 1999. The first Pacers basketball game held in the arena was a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks; the total attendance was 16,530. The first regular-season ABA game in the arena was held on October 18, 1974, against the San Antonio Spurs; the Pacers lost in double overtime, 129–121 in front of 7,473 fans. The first Pacers victory in Market Square Arena came on October 23 with a 122–107 win over the Spirits of St. Louis. The 1974–75 season ended for the Pacers with the ABA Finals played in Market Square Arena and Freedom Hall against their archrivals, the Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels defeated the Pacers in that championship series, winning the ABA title in five games (4 wins to 1). The 1975–76 Pacers won their final home ABA game in Market Square Arena with a 109–95 victory against the Colonels. (Kentucky won the next game by one point to win the series and advance, ending the Pacers' ABA tenure.) The Pacers continued to play at Market Square Arena after they joined the NBA in 1976; their first game at the arena as an NBA team was a 129–122 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on October 21. Michael Jordan's return to the Chicago Bulls after his first retirement took place at Market Square Arena in a loss to the Pacers on March 19, 1995. Market Square Arena was also the home of the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA from 1974 to 1979. The team hosted the first professional sports game in the venue on October 17, 1974, against the Michigan Stags. Seventeen-year-old Wayne Gretzky starred for the Racers in his first professional action before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers after a handful of games. The arena also hosted the 1980 NCAA men's basketball Final Four, which was won by the University of Louisville, and the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) men's basketball conference tournament from 1986 to 1988 and again in 1993. In 1987, Indianapolis hosted the Pan American Games, and all of its basketball games were held at Market Square. The gold-medal game pitted Brazil against the United States. The U.S. team of college players featured two All-Americans in David Robinson and Danny Manning, two Final Four MVPs in Pervis Ellison and Keith Smart, and several other future NBA play

In Their Own Story

The arena's basketball floor remains preserved and housed nearby within the National Institute for Fitness and Sport in White River State Park. The site of the former arena was a parking lot for over a decade. The parking lot held a memorial to Elvis Presley, who played his final concert at MSA on June 26, 1977, in front of 18,000 people. The memorial was designed and built by Alan Clough. In January 2017, Cummins opened its Global Distribution Headquarters on the southern half of the site. A 28-story apartment building named 360 Market Square and containing a 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market store opened in March 2018 on the northern half. The Elvis memorial was then placed on the sidewalk adjacent to 360 Market Square. The arena was demolished on July 8, 2001, in a multimillion-dollar implosion performed by Controlled Demolition, Inc., taking only 12 seconds to demolish completely.

Reader's Guide

The arena was built using a $16 million contribution from the city of Indianapolis. The original student design included a four-story office building covering two city blocks. As constructed, the arena consisted of a unique space frame design spanning Market Street. The playing floor was elevated over Market Street by twin 1400-space parking garages on each side of Market Street. Market Street, which already was physically terminated on the west by the Indiana Statehouse, was visually terminated on the east by the arena. The final design eventually took up one city block spanning Market Street. Market Square Arena's original center-hung scoreboard was an American Sign & Indicator scoreboard with monochrome matrix screens, similar to those which would be installed at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Joe Louis Arena. Its replacement, another American Sign & Indicator model, but with a color matrix screen on each of its four sides, was installed in time for the 1985 NBA All-Star Game held in the city and remained at the arena for the rest of its life, where it would later be complemented by front-projection video screens on each end of the arena. The Pacers moved to the new Conseco Fieldhouse, now Gainbridge Fieldhouse, for the 1999–2000 NBA season, and Market Square Arena was demolished on July 8, 2001, in a multimillion-dollar implosion performed by Controlled Demolition, Inc. It only took 12 seconds to demolish the arena completely. The arena's basketball floor remains preserved and housed nearby within the National Institute for Fitness and Sport in White River State Park. The site of the former arena was a parking lot for over a decade. The parking lot held a memorial to Elvis Presley, who played his final concert at MSA on June 26, 1977. The memorial was designed and built by Alan Clough. In January 2017, Cummins opened its Global Distribution Headquarters on the southern half of the site. A 28-story apartment building named 360 Market Square and containing a Whole Foods Market store opened in March 2018 on the northern half. The Elvis memorial was then placed on the sidewalk adjacent to 360 Market Square.

Did You Know?

• The first event held at the arena was a Glen Campbell concert on September 15, 1974.
• Elvis Presley performed his final live concert here, in front of 18,000 people, on June 26, 1977, seven weeks before his death on August 16.
• Billy Graham's 1980 Indiana Crusade was the most attended event at the arena in its history.
• The arena was demolished on July 8, 2001, in a 12-second implosion.